From The Ground Up
Happy Earth Day everyone! To celebrate, I am continuing this week’s trend of Making Things Complicated with more layers, a homemade tincture (using otherwise discarded fennel fronds), and citrus peels that were going bad (garnish). The drink is shot in my garden and if you have the space, I highly encourage you to plant something if you don’t already.
Blue & Brewed
If you’ve never had blueberry-flavored coffee, let me tell you, you’re missing out. I realize it sounds like an unusual flavor pairing but it works out beautifully. As with any good flavor combo, why not make it into a cocktail??
Clean & Bright
As I’ve pointed out before, I don’t have too many vodka-forward cocktails on my page, but they can be really nice when some warmer weather rolls around. I really like the crisp, refreshing, crushable feel of a citrus-forward, fruity vodka sour. Here’s one that I definitely recommend, even if you don’t take the completely-unnecessary-but-awesome step of layering.
Jaisalmer Gin Tasting
As some of you may have seen in my stories last week, I will be a Brand Advocate for @jaisalmergin over the next few months! I am really excited, not only because it’s a great gin, but because tasting gins from around the world brings me great joy. A gin like Jaisalmer brings botanicals local to its origin (seven, in fact, from India along with four from outside the country) and gives a glimpse into the culinary soul of the area. Given my love of cooking, this connection is partly why I find it so fun. I’ll be bringing some awesome recipes and recurring features starting soon! But first, let’s start with some tasting notes.
Smile & Blush
Some of you may have seen Green With Envy, a sad-faced drink I posted on Valentine’s Day. It seemed only right to balance the Mood of my page with a happier face. While this face isn’t an accurate depiction of mine (I go much lighter on the makeup😉), this drink was delicious and definitely made me smile.
Plant Lovin’
We are in Full Spring Mode here in Texas, so this is a drink to celebrate. Or commiserate, if you are one of the many unfortunate souls whose nasal passages can’t tolerate the insane amount of neon yellow/green pollen that is being constantly dispersed into the air. This drink is an ode (?dirge) to the life cycle of the plants responsible for our collective sneezing.
Vespermania
This sounds a bit like a bunch of cocktail nerds got out of hand and held a WWF-style brawl. Don't lie, you would totally watch that, wouldn't you? What I actually have for you today, as with many of my drinks, is something born out of curiousity and availability. What was available: a LOT of barrel-aged (pink) vesper (check out my post from 1/5/22 for details). It turns out that when you barrel-age a cocktail, you get... (checks notes) a barrel FULL of cocktail. As someone who infrequently makes the same drink more than a couple times, that is a *lot* of vesper.
Riggs and Murtaugh
I am on a mission to convince you that rhum and tequila are a really, really good pair. They complement each other better than partners in a buddy cop movie (Lethal Weapon anyone?). They’re as natural as PB&J. You get the idea. Recently I brought this dynamic duo starred in a stirred, martini-esque format. If that’s not your style, then how about a fruit-forward sour?
Rose Colored Glasses
First of all, happy National Cocktail Day to all my fellow drinkstagrammers and cocktail enthusiasts! I would be remiss if I didn’t post today, of all days, a cocktail (with a bonus mocktail version!) to celebrate. Today I have a very pink drink quite literally served in rose colored glasses, but hopefully you won’t have to wear yours to see what makes this drink delicious [Dad joke alert🤓].
Hophead
Before becoming a cocktail nerd, I was a beer nerd. I know, shocker. I still enjoy beer, especially a really hoppy IPA. I tried @leopoldbros Fernet (as part of my R&D for @homebarawards finals— congrats @denisgor!), and my initial impression was…that is was very bitter. I don’t say that very often, but I also don’t back down from a spirit that seems challenging at first impression.